1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a multisided corrugated paperboard container comprising a one-piece body member and a one-piece reinforcing member. More particularly, this invention relates to a hexagonal container formed from a one-piece body member and a one-piece reinforcing member having a double thickness bottom structure which can be readily and quickly erected while avoiding tearing of the container at its corners.
2. Description of the State of the Art
It is known in the art to provide hexagonal corrugated containers with side-wall reinforcement in the form of inner reinforcing members in order to strengthen the containers and thus facilitate the transportation and storage of materials, such as chemicals and food products, in a safe, efficient, and reliable manner. Increasingly, hexagonal containers are being used for the disposal of waste chemicals, since they are cheaper than the steel drums which are customarily used and, additionally, they can be incinerated. In all of these applications, however, not only must the container side walls be strengthened and reinforced to protect against the heavy-duty loads container therein, but the bottom wall of the container must also be strengthened since it bears the entire weight of the load.
Leopold, U.S. Pat. No. 2,019,787, for example, discloses an inner reinforcing member having wall sections with flaps at the ends thereof. However, these flaps only form a partial, incomplete inner bottom wall which still requires the insertion of a separate element, namely, a hexagonal paperboard disk, to complete the formation of a bottom structure for the reinforcing member. Thus, the art teaches that only by utilization of such an added element can a double thickness bottom wall be created.